Caged Bird
by mew-tsubaki
Summary: Drabble, slash. Castiel understands the need to clip a bird's wings—it's too protect the bird. Onesided?Destiel. Light T.


**Caged Bird**

A Supernatural drabble

by mew-tsubaki

Note: The _Supernatural_ cast doesn't belong to me, sadly. I _wish_ I owned Dean and Cass… *sniff* Tags to season 5 episode, "Point of No Return," and some sentences are quotes, while some others are paraphrased from the episode. Read, review, and enjoy!

- ^-^3

Castiel's ears burned. He had to figure that Dean would say something so offhandedly in a dire time.

_"Cass, no offense. But the last time someone looked at me like that… I got laid."_

Was it possible for angels to blush? Castiel had observed the phenomenon in humans countless times—even the Winchester brothers were still prone to the action. But he could not recall such a thing happening to himself or his feathered siblings.

And yet he felt…odd at Dean's words.

Castiel knew what Dean meant by "laid;" he certainly needed to know all of the slang he could understand when around Dean and Sam, since crass words littered almost every sentence that came out of their mouths…but that was beside the point, and Castiel stopped thinking about whether he was blushing as his mood plummeted.

He really hated the idea of Dean being trapped in Bobby's basement. He understood where Sam was coming from, he did—but Castiel wished that Dean was not so pigheaded. He wished that Dean could be trusted _not_ to hand himself over to the angels. Then again, if Dean could be trusted in that matter, then he wouldn't be Dean, would he?

Cass found himself absorbed in his thoughts until Bobby rolled outside to check on him. "Hey, how's he doing?"

Cass didn't feel like answering. Anytime Dean was brought up…his head ached.

Bobby let a brief silent moment pass. "You okay?"

The angel clenched his jaw and again didn't reply. Instead, he headed back to the house. He felt the need to check on Dean, let him know that he was sorry. Putting Dean in a cage was not Castiel's first choice, but if it would protect him… Castiel wanted him to be safe. He _needed_ him to be safe.

Inside the house, he heard glass shatter and he rushed to the cell. "Dean?" he called. Cass did not like it when Dean did not answer. The angel would've taken anything—even a joke that Dean would throw at him, asking if Cass had come to deliver what Dean had "seen" in the angel's eyes earlier. But when Dean remained silent, Castiel—for lack of a better word—panicked. He checked through the slider and saw nothing, and he called for Dean again before opening the door. After all, a caged bird could still damage its wings—

"Cass."

Castiel blinked at the gentle yet rough sound of Dean's voice. He turned and relief flooded him…before Dean smoked him.

The whole time that Castiel spent trying to collect himself, he was tapping into the brothers' colorful vocabulary. What could Cass say? He was pissed (one of Dean's favorite words). What the hell (one of Sam's favorite) had Dean been thinking when he'd thought it was a good idea to send Cass away? So much for Dean resting in the cell like a whiny little bitch (yet another of Dean's favorite expletives). Dean was as Dean as ever; he'd tricked Castiel into setting him free.

While Castiel appreciated Dean's fighting back because it meant Dean was himself…the angel also knew exactly which line of thought the hunter was treading. Cass almost hated that he knew Dean so well.

When he finally gathered himself and located Dean, he couldn't set aside his anger any longer. He had to let Dean have it. In his blind, _human_ rage, he smacked Dean around, lifted the hunter off the ground and pushed him against the wall.

"_I gave everything for you_!"

Dean's eyes widened as Cass continued to whale on him, but Castiel… Though the next several blows were much worse, he knew that some of his anger had diminished once he'd said that. Because, frankly, he had the feeling that he was not talking about just giving Dean the chance to do things another way, a way that wasn't Zachariah's. "I gave everything for you"—it sounded a lot Castiel was saying that he'd given everything for Dean…for Dean to live.

Castiel figured that _must_ be it. After all, Castiel wanted him to be safe. He _needed_ him to be safe.

When Dean begged him to continue, just continue with the violence, Castiel unfurled his fist and looked at what he had done. Dean was gasping on the pavement of the alley, bloodied and bruised—broken. And in all of Castiel's fury, the angel felt regret and torment. Despite being upset with Dean, he felt an overwhelming desire to heal him. He could reach out and touch him and everything would be fine… But Cass knew that wasn't how Dean worked; once Dean's mind was made up, it was too hard to change.

The angel sighed, knowing things wouldn't be fine that easily. He reached out and touched Dean's shoulder, sending him into a momentary deep sleep. Funny how peaceful the mortal looked as Castiel picked him up… Castiel _couldn't_ let Dean play into the angels' hands, he just couldn't.

On the flight back to Bobby's house, Cass held Dean close to him, a little closer than he usually might've. But hey, if this was the end of the world, Cass might as well enjoy his remaining few pleasures in life, right?

Sam gawked at them when they returned. "What happened to him?" he asked, staring at his brother.

"Me," Castiel replied, and as he unhooked Dean's arm from around his shoulder's, Cass finally wanted to smile a little.

It looked as though Dean would be a caged bird again, for now. And Cass was all right with that because Castiel wanted him to be safe. He _needed_ him to be safe. Even if Dean hated him for it.

- ^-^3

**Yup. This is what happens when you watch reruns of **_**Supernatural**_** while trying to type up a **_**Harry Potter **_**fic at the same time. Destiel **_**WILL**_** cross your mind, *lol*. I love this, though… As I was watching "Point of No Return," I just couldn't help but wonder what was running through Cass' mind the whole episode…there were so many places that could be filled with Destiel moments! Xo So I filled them. ;P (Aaaand I love that moment where Dean talks about how Cass' look reminded Dean of gettin' some… XD)**

**Thanks for reading and please review!**

**-mew-tsubaki ;}**


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